Friday night ended in a mob of Riptide in center field, following a 12-inning marathon that finally ended on the back of Zach McLeod’s double in the gap to score Caleb Henderson from second. The Riptide were finally able to snap their six-game winless streak and capture their first win in league play, improving to 3-6-1 overall and 1-0 in league.
The Riptide rode a wave of stellar pitching to the victory, as they were able to consistently evade threats from the Inland Valley Pirates and strand runners on base.
Starter David Orndorff from the University of Cincinnati offered his second consecutive impressive starts, pitching six scoreless innings and getting a no decision. Also from the bullpen, Kyle Beadles and Nico Castaneda pitched well for the Riptide en route to the 2-1 win at Vanguard.
Offensively, the Riptide struggled to push runs across against Pirates’ starter Eric Trask, despite consistently producing opportunities with runners on base and in scoring position.
Third basemen J.J. Carr pushed across the first run of the evening for the riptide on a two-out double down the third base line, plating Nashea Diggs from second. The ‘Tide were unable to cash in any of their numerous runners after that point until McLeod’s walk-off double in the 12th inning sent everyone home happy.
The Riptide will look to sweep the series against the Pirates tomorrow evening at Citrus College at 5pm. Follow along on our audio stream and on twitter!